Host fears for her Airbnb despite lockdown easing
An Airbnb host in Bath says she may go out of business despite customers now being allowed to stay at her properties.
Anastasia Ramsay welcomed the reopening of Airbnb venues from Saturday (July 4), along with hotels, pubs and restaurants.
However, the 35-yearold said she has had little to no bookings on the cottage in Bathford, the flat in St James Parade, and the house in Princes Street that she runs during a time of the year when she is usually very busy.
Mrs Ramsay says the very welcome £10,000 government grant has already gone on covering the costs of the properties and she fears she won’t be able to continue this line of work for much longer.
“Although bookings are available now, it is still pretty quiet. I maybe get one request a week. I would imagine places outside of cities, maybe by the seaside will be more in demand. Hopefully it will pick up,” she said.
“You have to leave it for at least 24 hours in between guests. That makes a big difference in bookings. I don’t know how long it will go on for. I am using a cleaning company to clean it.
“At times we have 100 per cent occupancy but at the moment it will be 5-20 per cent. As a business it is really hard to survive.”
Mrs Ramsay believes people want to get away from cities during the lockdown and that is why her Bathford cottage is more popular at present than the city centre properties.
She said: “Usually I get more requests for my properties in Bath but the one in Bathford, outside the city centre, is more popular at the moment.
“People want to get away from the crowds at the moment.
“My main customers are groups of 8-10 people in the Bath properties. They can be hen-dos, parties, graduations, families etc. But none of that is happening right now.”
Mrs Ramsay does not want to give up this business but admits she may have to if things don’t improve.
“I got the £10,000 government grant but that has already gone in a month on the three properties I run,” she said. “That grant was a massive help but it has gone on all the costings for the properties.
“Bath is a great place to visit. My properties are high-end, in proper Georgian buildings and they have that style inside too.
“I don’t know how long I can continue. I got a loan to start this business and bought the properties.
“I’ve done this for two and a half years and I have loved it. It has been brilliant until the pandemic.”
To view Mrs Ramsay’s properties, got to www.airbnb.co.uk/users/ show/12331707.